An ideal itinerary along the decumanus major can start from Piazza Bellini and via San Pietro a Majella. Along this road we come across the church of San Pietro a Majella, whose bell tower in yellow tuff and piperno overlooks Piazza Miraglia.
The church, built between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, is a remarkable testimony of the great Naples of the Angevin age, having been built at the behest of Charles IIof Anjou, in the place where there were two monasteries dedicated to Sant'Agata and Sant'Eufemia. The religious building was entrusted to the order of the Celestines and dedicated by them to Celestine V, born Pietro Angeleri, the Pope placed in Hell by Dante for having left the papal throne in 1294, shortly after his appointment.
On the outside, the church partially presents its original form of the Gothic age, in particular the bell tower fully reflects the aesthetic canons of that era with a leap towards the sky and a remarkable verticality. Note the spire, which stands tall and is visible from far away. However, over the centuries the building has been subject to alterations, which have partially altered its external shape, but above all the internal one. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, for example, various works were created which are still preserved, including the inlaid choir in the apse and the majolica floors. The facade overlooks Via dei Tribunali and is characterized above by a rose window, while below we have a staircase that leads to a valuable Baroque portal.
The interior of the church of San Pietro a Majella has three naves. These are separated by pillars supporting typically Gothic arches. The central nave, wider and more spacious than the other two, has a marvelous coffered ceiling, while the lateral ones have cross vaults. Very interesting is the apse area with the high altar in Baroque style created by Bartolomeo and Pietro Ghetti (Carraresi sculptors of the second half of the seventeenth century) based on a design by Cosimo Fanzago: it is richly decorated with candlesticks and is preceded by a marble balustrade, the work of Fanzago himself. Looking up from the central nave, it is possible to admire the sumptuous coffered ceiling, which continues in the transept and houses some paintings by Mattia Preti, a famous Calabrian painter who, together with Luca Giordano, is one of the main interpreters of the seventeenth century in Naples . We are talking about a very important pictorial cycle for the history of seventeenth-century art. Here, Preti depicts Episodes from the life of St. Peter Celestine and St. Catherine of Alexandria which can be dated between 1657 and 1673. The colours, shapes, expressiveness and plasticity of the bodies are the main characteristics of these paintings so much so that in 1916 the art historian Roberto Longhi defined these canvases of San Pietro a Majella as the Baroque counterpart of Raphael's Rooms. There are a total of ten side chapels (five on each side) and among these, the Leonessa Chapel is certainly worth mentioning, which houses a cycle of frescoes painted between 1355 and 1360 by an artist very close to the ways and style of Giotto and Simone Martini. Episodes from the life of Saint Martin of Tours are depicted.
The other noteworthy chapel of the church is the Pepin Chapel, located in the apse area of the building. It is characterized by a remarkable majolica floor, by the funeral monument of Giovanni Pino di Altamura and by a cycle of frescoes with the Stories of the Magdalene. The author of the cycle is not known, but he proves to be up to date on the main innovations in the artistic field of the time, and it is no coincidence that the references to the painting of Giotto and Masaccio are more than evident.
